Shadowed Interrogation
by blessedsilence
Summary: oneshot deathfic. Rinoa has been murdered, and Seifer swears he didn't do it.


Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 8 belongs to Square. Chances are, if you recognize it, it's theirs. Also, 'Jenny Was A Friend of Mine', sung by The Killers, inspired this fic.

Warnings: Language, deathfic

………………………

"Look, asshole, I already told you that I know my fucking rights! I've been here all day. What the Hell do you want to know? When're you gonna let me go?"

The two soldiers, one with glasses, the other with a frustrating habit of pinching his nose, look equally exasperated with me. "As soon as you confess, Almasy. We've told you that."

"Yeah, and I told you that I didn't do it. Where's the motive? Rinoa was a friend of mine, asshole. Why would I want to kill her?"

The shorter soldier pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs as his companion grinds out an answer. "As the Sorceress Knight …"

"Oh, fuck! Are you people still on about that? That was five years ago! Besides, if I were still a Sorceress Knight, why would I be killing a sorceress?"

"So," starts the nose pincher slowly. "You're saying that you're still a Sorceress Knight?"

Holy Hyne, these people actually get paid for this? I run my hands through my hair as best I can, frustrated near tears by the stupidity of Galbadia's finest. "'Were', moron. If I _were_ still a Sorceress Knight."

He rolls his eyes to the ceiling and sighs. His partner leans back in his chair, repeating the same shit I've been hearing all day. "Rinoa Heartilly is dead. Her body was found in the alley next to your apartment. One of your neighbors testifies that you were away during the estimated time of death"

I glare at him, more exasperated than pissed off at this point. "First off, the neighbor's a tweaker. The other day he was convinced I was some sort of Angel of Hyne. Second: yeah, my apartment, part of an apartment complex, which holds about twenty people. I noticed no one brought them in for this crap."

"And none of them have the history that you do."

I scoff. "Ever consider that I'm being framed for this?"

"Why would someone else kill Miss Heartilly?"

"Well fuck, I have no idea. Maybe if you weren't here fucking around with me you could be out there, looking for the asshole that killed her, and then you can ask him yourself. I'm not going to confess, because I didn't do anything, you prick. Look, I've got somewhere to be. Can I fucking go?"

"Mr. Almasy, I'm going to have to ask you to clean up your language."

"Oh, go to Hell." The nose pinching soldier glares at me, and I give back as good as I get. I've been here for eight hours already, and we've just been running in circles with the same accusations and name calling flowing back and forth. As amusing as it was, it got old, and quick.

The seated soldier sighs. "Fine. When was the last time you saw Miss Heartilly?" As soon as I open my mouth, he adds, "…alive."

Not this again. "Look, I'll tell you one more time. It was last month. We were at Garden. I was going to speak to the Commander about a contract, and she was leaving as I got there. We spoke for no more than two minutes."

"A contract?"

"Is confidential, moron."

"Fine. And what were your feelings towards Miss Heartilly at the time?"

"What, you mean aside from wanting to fuck her brains out?"

The horrified look is almost worth it. I cut the bastard off before he can finish his strangled, "Mr. Almasy!"

"She seemed fine. Still living her fucking fairy tale. She was going to go to the infirmary. I guess she had been helping out there."

The seated soldier takes off his glasses and cleans them with his shirt. His face looks larger and paler without them. "Her fairy tale…?"

"Long story. Basically, she's still fucking Squall. Well, was." These guys are almost too easy to fuck with. I give them a couple of minutes to think about that. The second hand on the clock on the wall clicks forward twelve seconds, and then back one. Let's see, if twelve goes into sixty five times, that means five seconds is lost per minute. That must mean …

"Mr. Almasy, you know what I think? I th…"

"I think that I don't care. When're you gonna let me out?"

"Like I was saying," nose man interrupts, glaring at me. "I think…"

I guess I just wasn't fated to know what he thinks. As soon as he opens his mouth another soldier rushes in and whispers something into glasses man's ear. Glasses looks at the informant, then at his partner, and then at me. "Well, Almasy, you can go."

The nose mans choked, "what!" just about swallows my "about time."

Glasses clears his throat. "Commander Leonhart's orders. You'll be released into the custody of Balamb Garden. We hope that you will be more…"

"Enough." Ah, and there's the precious Commander now, late as always. He waits at the door as the shackles are removed from my wrists and ankles, then promptly turns and leaves. I follow, smirking at the nose-pinching soldier on my way out. He doesn't look amused. As if I give a shit.

I follow Squall out of the station and climb into his Esthar-issue car. I relax into the oversized seat and close my eyes as he starts the vehicle and eases into traffic. "What took you so long?"

He shrugs. "Had to do some paperwork." Figures, fucking prick. "Well?"

"Well, you were right. They were all over the Sorceress Knight thing. Obviously they didn't have anything conclusive, or they would have used it. Good thing you're such a goody goody, Leonhart. No one would suspect the great Lion of Balamb." I scoff. Whoever thought of that nickname obviously never watched him piss his pants during a fight.

"They mention Caraway?"

"No."

"Good." He stares at the road silently after that, and I go back to watching the windshield wipers scrape water off of the glass.

I had been somewhat surprised when Squall called me up shortly over a month ago, asking me to help him with a personal problem. He told me that Rinoa needed to die. At first I figured he finally got tired of her cutesie cutesie bullshit, but it turns out it was more complicated than that.

Funny that I should have seen her on the way in to discuss her death with Squall. It was the first time I had been back to Garden in a while, and the first time I had seen her in years. She looked good, damn good. I wasn't kidding when I told the soldier I wanted to fuck her. She's the type that just got sexier with age. That urge left pretty damn quick, though, as soon as I talked to Squall.

I guess the Sorceress powers in her finally kicked in. Instead of that white light healing crap she had been working with, the magic decided it wanted to come out and play. She had been working with more destructive spells, and had killed more than a few people. The explosion three months ago that killed twenty-seven people, the one the media blamed on Trabian resistance groups? That was Rinoa, testing a modified fire spell.

Squall tried to stop her, and she got him pretty good. He showed me the scars covering his torso left over from some torture curse she had dug up somewhere. I don't know what finally pushed him to the point that he felt she needed to die, and I didn't bother to ask. The point of SeeD, after all, is to kill renegade sorceresses. If she had been allowed to live, chances are she would have started a fourth sorceress war. Death was the only option.

Squall, of course, had to fuck it up from the get go, starting with the fact that he killed her a week too early. I guess they had been walking in the park, in the rain, and she told him something that he didn't really care to know. I have no idea what it was, but it sure as Hell pushed him over the edge. I got a call from him, saying that he had strangled her to death and he would be dropping the body off soon. At that point I didn't bother asking how he had managed to strangle her if she was so powerful. What struck me was how fucking calm he was. After a short, mostly one-sided argument over whether or not he was an asshole for not following the plan, I left the apartment. I drove up to the beach and parked my car for a couple of hours before going back, plenty of time for Squall to drop Rin's body in the dumpster and ask a couple of neighbors if they had seen me. I don't know what he told the tweaker, but shortly after I got back I had soldiers swarming through my apartment like ants.

I never went near the body, so there was no evidence on her saying that I killed her. Squall just had to play the part of the poor, heart broken, justice-seeking boyfriend, and they passed over him. Of course, him being the all-powerful Commander of Garden helped a bit. Caraway may be a huge General, but come on. He and Rinoa hated each other, despite what he tells the press. Chances are this case will never be solved.

As I watch the wipers swish back and forth rhythmically, I smirk at the glass. Rinoa got what she fucking deserved. I never liked her anyway.

…………………………………

B.S.: Thanks for reading this. It's not fabulous, but it's been knocking around in my head for about a year, and I wanted to get it written.


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